Worsley Alumina Pty. Ltd. internship

Abstract

Murdoch University requires that fourth year engineering students who are enrolled in ENG450 to acquire employment in the industry relevant to their chosen degree. The purpose of this was to provide the intern with work experience before graduation. The purpose of the internship is given in more detail in the ENG450 Study Guide which the intern has already repeated in the student's submitted Project Plan.

The intern was fortunate to get employment at Worsley Alumina Pty. Ltd. as a Murdoch Intern Contractor. During the student's period of employment at said company, the intern was given tasks that were designed to give insight of engineering as a career. Working together with process control engineers at the company, the intern was impressed at their level of professionalism. The engineers were always helpful and were very generous with their time. The intern was given several projects during the internship. Of these projects, the Alarm Management System and the Air Blaster project will be covered in this document as well as a summary of WAPL's use of the Bayer Process.

At the start of the internship, the intern was given information about the business in the form of a detailed manual titled 'Introductory Bayer Process Training Manual'. The manual is required reading for new employees to the refinery. It is a source of reference information for WAPL personnel of all disciplines. The manual is summarised in this document. Electrical and instrumentation engineers at WAPL use a custom software application for troubleshooting and fault diagnosis. The intern was given the task to maintain and to provide documentation for the application.

Finally, one of the tasks of the intern was given involved in particular ensuring the efficient delivery of bauxite to the initial stages of processing. This project involved the replacement of hardware at one of the facilities with new components that facilitated the customisation of the timing used by the air blasters. These air blasters at the facility ensured that the chutes through which bauxite ore was delivered were free of obstruction.